Recalculating Swedish pre-census demographic data: Was there acceleration in early modern population growth?

Cliometrica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Benjamin Edvinsson
2013 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-857 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted McCormick

AbstractCurrent approaches to the history of early modern population thought focus on the state and secular governance, while standard treatments of Restoration and Augustan “political arithmetic” emphasize its economic or social-scientific content. This article recovers nonsecular uses of demographic quantification, excavating the use of political arithmetic in religious polemic between ca. 1660 and ca. 1750. As a form of empirical natural philosophy, political arithmetic suited the polemical needs of latitudinarian Anglicans and others combating deism, atheism, and preadamism; the demographic regularities it revealed furnished evidence of providential solicitude, while the history of population growth was a potential prop for scriptural chronologies. A strand of “sacred” political arithmetic thus contributed to natural theology while modeling—albeit inconsistently—new historical applications for empirical methodology. The article concludes by considering possible causes for the decline of this “sacred” strand of demographic quantification, while suggesting connections between it and better-known secular forms of Enlightenment-era population thought.


Author(s):  
Anamaria CIURE ◽  
Ioan ROTAR

Demographic explosion of the early modern society, which constituated the basic material for the Malthusian theory, is a major problem of mankind. Population growth remains high in absolute terms (in 1950 lived on earth only 2.5 million inhabitants in 1970 were 3.2 billion and in 2006 were 6.68 billion people). As a result of population growth, agriculture, the main segment which provides food resources, can significantly restrict the activities currently being allotted to each man 0.56 ha farm, of which the 0.26 ha arable. Because scenarios predict a growing population it is required the increasing of current levels of food production more than proportionally with population growth, so as to provide a proper diet for many people.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 679-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Manabe ◽  
J. Oyamada ◽  
Y. Kitagawa ◽  
K. Igawa ◽  
K. Kato ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lia Hemerik ◽  
Chris Klok ◽  
Maja Roodbergen

AbstractMany populations of wader species have shown a strong decline in number in Western-Europe in recent years. The use of simple population models such as matrix models can contribute to conserve these populations by identifying the most profitable management measures. Parameterization of such models is often hampered by the availability of demographic data (survival and reproduction). In particular, data on survival in the pre-adult (immature) stage of wader species that remain in wintering areas outside Europe are notoriously difficult to obtain, and are therefore virtually absent in the literature. To diagnose population decline in the wader species; Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, and Redshank, we extended an existing modelling framework in which incomplete demographic data can be analysed, developed for species with a pre-adult stage of one year. The framework is based on a Leslie matrix model with three parameters: yearly reproduction (number of fledglings per pair), yearly pre-adult (immature) and yearly adult (mature) survival. The yearly population growth rate of these populations and the relative sensitivity of this rate to changes in survival and reproduction parameters (the elasticity) were calculated numerically and, if possible, analytically. The results showed a decrease in dependence on reproduction and an increase in pre-adult survival of the population growth rate with an increase in the duration of the pre-adult stage. In general, adult survival had the highest elasticity, but elasticity of pre-adult survival increased with time to first reproduction, a result not reported earlier. Model results showed that adult survival and reproduction estimates reported for populations of Redshank and Curlew were too low to maintain viable populations. Based on the elasticity patterns and the scope for increase in actual demographic parameters we inferred that conservation of the Redshank and both Curlew populations should focus on reproduction. For one Oystercatcher and the Black-tailed Godwit populations we suggested a focus on both reproduction and pre-adult survival. For the second Oystercatcher population pre-adult survival seemed the most promising target for conservation. And for the Lapwing populations all demographic parameters should be considered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Giraudoux ◽  
Petra Villette ◽  
Jean-Pierre Quéré ◽  
Jean-Pierre Damange ◽  
Pierre Delattre

Abstract Rodent outbreaks have plagued European agriculture for centuries, but continue to elude comprehensive explanation. Modelling and empirical work in some cyclic rodent systems suggests that changes in reproductive parameters are partly responsible for observed population dynamics. Using a 17-year time series of Microtus arvalis population abundance and demographic data, we explored the relationship between meteorological conditions (temperature and rainfall), female reproductive activity, and population growth rates in a non-cyclic population of this grassland vole species. We found strong but complex relationships between female reproduction and climate variables, with spring female reproduction depressed after cold winters. Population growth rates were, however, uncorrelated with either weather conditions (current and up to three months prior) or with female reproduction (number of foetuses per female and/or proportion of females reproductively active in the population). These results, coupled with age-structure data, suggest that mortality, via predation, disease, or a combination of the two, are responsible for the large multi-annual but non-cyclic population dynamics observed in this population of the common vole.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAMARA M. WONG ◽  
TAMARA TICKTIN

SUMMARYDemographic comparisons between wild and restored populations of at-risk plant species can reveal key management strategies for effective conservation, but few such studies exist. This paper evaluates the potential restoration success ofAlyxia stellata, a Hawaiian vine. Stage-structured matrix projection models that compared long-term and transient dynamics of wild versus restoredA. stellatapopulations, and restored populations under different levels of canopy cover, were built from demographic data collected over a four year period. Stochastic models of wild populations projected stable or slightly declining long-term growth rates depending on frequency of dry years. Projected long-term population growth rates of restored populations were significantly higher in closed than open canopy conditions, but indicated population decline under both conditions. Life table response experiments illustrated that lower survival rates, especially of small adults and juveniles, contributed to diminished population growth rates in restored populations. Transient analyses for restored populations projected short-term decline occurring even faster than predicted by asymptotic dynamics. Restored populations will not be viable over the long term under conditions commonly found in restoration projects and interventions will likely be necessary. This study illustrates how the combination of long-term population modelling and transient analyses can be effective in providing relevant information for plant demographers and restoration practitioners to promote self-sustaining native populations, including under future climates.


2020 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-161
Author(s):  
Anna Myszka ◽  
Janusz Piontek ◽  
Jacek Tomczyk ◽  
Marta Zalewska

AbstractAccording to medical knowledge, physical activity plays a role in osteoarthritic changes formation. The impact of occupation on osteoarthritic changes development in past human populations is not clear enough, causing problems with interpretation. The aim of the current study is to examine the relationship between osteoarthritis and entheseal changes. Skeletal material comes from the late medieval, early modern population from Łekno (Poland). The sample consists of 110 males and 56 females (adults only). Osteophytes, porosity and eburnation were analyzed in the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle. Entheses on the humerus, radius, femur, and tibia were examined. Standard ranked categorical scoring systems were used for the osteoarthritic and entheseal changes examination.Males with more developed osteophytes in the shoulder have more “muscular” upper limbs (higher values of muscle markers). Males with more developed osteophytes in the hip and knee are predicted to have more “muscular” lower limbs. Males with more developed osteoarthritis in the shoulder, wrist, hip, and knee exhibit more developed entheseal changes. Males with more developed entheses tend to yield more developed osteophytes (all joints taken together) and general osteoarthritis (all changes and all joints taken together). Females with more developed entheses have more developed osteoarthritis in the elbow, wrist, and hip. Individuals with more developed entheses have much more developed osteophytes. When all the three types of changes are taken together, more “muscular” females exhibit more developed osteoarthritis. The lack of uniformity of the results, wild discussions on the usage of entheses in activity patterns reconstruction and other limitations do not allow to draw unambiguous conclusions about the impact of physical activity on the osteoarthritis in past populations and further studies are needed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Wheeler ◽  
Jeb A. Barzen ◽  
Shawn M. Crimmins ◽  
Timothy R. Van Deelen

Population growth rate in long-lived bird species is often most sensitive to changes in adult survival. Sandhill Cranes (Antigone canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758)) have long life spans, small broods, and delayed first reproduction. Only territorial adult Sandhill Cranes participate in breeding, and territory acquisition reflects the interplay between the availability of suitable territories and the variation in mortality of adult birds occupying those territories. We estimated vital rates of a population at equilibrium using long-term resightings data (2000–2014; n = 451 marked individuals) in a multistate mark–resight model and used a stage-structured projection matrix to assess how strongly territorial adult survival affects population growth rate. Elasticity analysis indicated territorial birds surviving and retaining territories had a 2.58 times greater impact on population growth compared with the next most important transition rate (survival of nonterritorial adults remaining nonterritorial). Knowing how changes in vital rates of various stage classes will differentially impact population growth rate allows for targeted management actions including encouraging growth in recovering populations, assessing opportunity for recreational harvest, or maintaining populations at a desired level. This study also highlights the value of collecting demographic data for all population segments, from which one can derive reproductive output or growth rate.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Reilly

The use of demographic data about cardinal mortality drawn from Salvador Miranda’s “Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church” archive confirms and quantifies the greater vulnerability of northern Europeans to Rome’s malarial fevers relative to their Roman counterparts. Non-Italian visitors to Rome suffered about three times the rate of malaria deaths as did Italians and Greeks, who had acquired various defenses against malaria. Northern Italians were far less susceptible than expected to Rome’s malarial fevers, however, whereas Iberian visitors to Rome were far more so. The eventual decline of malaria in Rome was not so much a function of climate change as of Rome’s steady post-1600 population growth.


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